Huntsville gazette., 1887-06-04

an apoiogetlcal way, that ne needed
the cash to close up business deal. !
told him that the 10Th was my sisters
birthday. and that we should have a
few friends drop in for the evening. 1
gave him strong invitation, and he
accepted it with seeming pleasure. I
did not see him again until noon of
the 10Th, and then he said he should
come early. h
At five o'clock in the afternoon it
began to snow and blow in furious
manner. We lived a long mile from
the bank, and when night came and
the blizzard increased we knew that
none of our guests could be expected
to put in an appearance. A note came
from Dowd directly after supper stat
ing that he had a sore throat and did
not dare to brave the storm, and I
pulled off my boots and sat down for
an evening with book of history. Not
person had come near us, and it had
got to be nine o'clock when was sud-
denly seized with a desire to rush
down to the bank. 1t was as if 1 had
had been commanded to 90, and before
l realized what l was doing l had
pulled on my boots and gone for my
overcoat.
"You are not going outr' exclaimed
mother and sister in chorus.
"Yes-to the bank"
cat this time of the night and in
this stormp You must be crazyr'
-But I feel an impulse to 60. In
deed, l can't wait another minute"
I snatched my revolver from the hall
tree drawer, and buttoned my over
coat as ran. had savage bulldog
about the house as burglar alarm"
and when / had run quarter of a mile
l found him at my heels. l was SO
excited and under such spell that
scarcely noticed the storm, which had
driven every body from the streets
and closed all places of business. 1 ran
on until l was within half block of
the bank. Then / came to a dead halt,
and asked myself what could be wrong
that had acted so much like an idiot.
If a messenger had come to my house
with the information that the bank
building was on fire / couldn't have
hurried any faster, or had a stronger
feeling that my presence was neees-
sary. Well, here l was in the storm
swept street, the building looming up
before me in the dark kness, and seeming
to be all right, and what excuse could
l make for myself? felt ashamed for
a moment, and then the Old feeling
came over me stronger than ever. 1
felt it my duty to enter the bank and
make an examination, and the dog, as
if possessed of the same feeling, led the
way.
l had carried the revolver all the
way in my hand. l laid it down
to unlock the heavy front door of
the bank, bat picked it up again
as 1 entered. The dog entered
before did, and while I was lighting
a lamp he rushed through to the rear
with savage growl, descended the
stairs to the vault with a great clatter,
and just as got the lamp alight 1
heard oaths and yells, a pistol shot
rang out, and the dog vented his rage
in roars that would have done credit
to lion. Then two men came rush
ing up stairs, each with a pistol in his
hand, and we all began shooting. |
felt hot iron burn into my left shOul-
der, and fell to the floor and lost my
head for a couple of minutes. When |
got my senses back the front door was
wide open. and one of the men lay on
the floor near me. The dog was still
growing away down cellar, and ]
closed the door and took the lamp and
descended, feeling very weak and
queer, but kept up by the knowledge
that robbery had been attempted.
When got down l found third man.
He was on his back, and the dog was
keeping him there, after having bitten
him in dozen places.
summoned help of course, and per-
'haps you can judge something of my
feelings when l tell you that the man
up stairs on the floor was stone dead,
and that he was no other than my
friend James Dowd. The others were
his pals, of course, and the ''job'' had
been deliberately planned from the
first. They had gone through the eel
lar wall, pried the door off the vault,
and were just handling the sum of
$48, 900 when / entered the building.
The one whom we captured made a
"squeal' of it, so that we ran down
the other, and both served long sem
tences in prison.-N Y Sun.